


I have set my life upon a cast

by Geekhyena



Category: October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire
Genre: Adoptive family, Angst, Difficult Pregnancy, Difficult choices, Duty vs mercy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 21:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12968982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geekhyena/pseuds/Geekhyena
Summary: After Raj's birth, Tybalt has a choice: nephew or son?  Features minor spoilers for the short story "Rat-Catcher"





	I have set my life upon a cast

**Author's Note:**

  * For [palmedfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/palmedfire/gifts).



> Many thanks go to FairestCat for the beta!
> 
> For palmedfire

Samson and Yaelle stand before him, and the difference between the two has never been more striking. Samson stands tall, only a veneer of polite respect on his features. He does not hold his wife, he does not offer comfort. Tybalt still does not know what drew Yaelle to Samson, nor what has made her stay. As strong and simmering with anger as Samson is, Yaelle is just as strong, but her face holds concern and defiance.

Tybalt knows what bearing Raj cost her - despite her pure blood, her magic was weak enough that even transformation was difficult. Since Raj’s birth, it is rare to see her in bipedal form, but here she is, slight and slim, her elegant dark hair braided and coiled without a single strand out of place, a cat no matter what shape she holds. But she looks weary, so weary, and it unnerves him to see her fade so, even as her son grows stronger, as if even after birth, his growth draws on her strength. Miscarriages are rare among purebloods, but Raj had almost been lost more than once, and Tybalt had known that had she sickened further, there would have been no healers to aid. He knows all too well the failure of the divided courts in such matters.

But here she is, showing more fierceness than he has ever seen, holding her son with an expression of defiance on her face. She knows she cannot defy him over this, but she also knows all her son has cost her so far. It would be a mistake on his part to assume she will not be fiercer than Samson in this matter, and it is her he watches closest.

Raj is a Prince of Cats, or he could be. His name was not given lightly, for all that it was from a human tongue. Even as he knew he could never be a King of Cats, Samson had recognized that his son could be a Prince, as had Yaelle. But while Samson saw it as an opportunity, a chance to gain power through his son, for all that he risked to do so, Yaelle clearly recognizes the danger. She is well aware that she may have risked so much to lose her son even now, and that she has no say in the matter. She had born her son gladly, though it had almost cost her life to bear him. Even during his birth, the Court had waited to see if she would survive, or if her son would only ever see her face among the Night Haunts. Standing before him, it is clear she does not want to give him up. Tybalt wonders whose decision it was to make this request. 

The whole Court rejoiced at this birth, so long awaited and so precarious. The child’s eyes are barely open, but the power is there and it is noticeable. They all know he cannot ignore this. A future Prince must be dealt with immediately, and so the two Cait Sidhe have come, to ask that they be allowed to keep their child. That he take Raj as nephew, and permit them to stay, rather than take Raj as son and drive them from his Court. Whatever he decides, it is his decision alone. 

Tybalt had been bought from his own mother as soon as he had been weaned - it had been his father’s way, and he had lost his birth parents without even the solace of memory, as had his sisters and brothers. It had been the first hard lesson. But he remembers his father’s cruelty. He remembers that while it is one of their ways, it is not the only way.

He looks again at Yaelle, as she waits to hear the fate of her family. She holds her son, still in kitten form now, tight in her arms. He knows as well as she does that Raj will be the only child she will ever bear, even as Tybalt knows that Raj is the first Cait Sidhe of royal power to be born in his court in more than sixty years. 

If he was his father...oh, if he was his father, if he was many a King or Queen of Cats, he would have taken Raj as his son as soon as he’d seen the signs of power in the child, found a wet-nurse, and driven Samson and Yaelle from his court, bloody and banished, never to return. If he was his father, he would have bought a child into fosterage, from some court far away. If he was his father, he would have been ruthless, for kings must be hard and princes must learn to be strong. For a King deposed by a weak Prince is no King at all, and leaves the entire court vulnerable to outside conquest. But he is not his father. 

Even as Shade has her two Princesses that will someday fight for her throne, as she deposed Esmeralda before her, Tybalt has no Prince in his court. He knows that this makes him vulnerable, for a court with a Prince is not often challenged by outsiders looking to claim their own territory, if the Prince is seen as a strong challenger. Will Raj be as strong as his parents hope to be? Raj will have no sisters to guide him and temper him, as Tybalt had. Would the presence of parents serve as similar? Would Samson’s brashness or Yaelle’s quiet win out over the strength and power needed of a Prince? This is the calculus that runs through his mind. He stands, and looks at Yaelle and Samson, as he makes his decision.

“Mercy is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown,” says Tybalt simply. “The harsh lessons will begin once he is old enough to understand them as lessons and not simply as pain. I take Raj as my nephew and heir, and name you my brother and sister in your turn. You will be allowed to stay.” He sees the relief in Yaelle’s face as she holds her son closer to her. He turns his gaze to Samson, and his tone grows hard. “But know that it is Raj who will be King someday, and not his father. You will be in his life, but he is mine to train as Prince. I will have final say in all that concerns him. This is the price I require. Do you understand?”

Samson and Yaelle nod assent, and Tybalt dismisses them. With the scent of hibiscus and dry paper, Yaelle transforms back into her feline form, taking Raj with her gently by his scruff. Her relief is palpable. Samson remains, staring at Tybalt with an expression half shy of rudeness. Tybalt stares back. He knows he must be wary. He knows that Samson may yet try take the power he views as wrongfully denied, though none but a King can hold the shadows. He knows this will not be easy. Moments pass, and Samson transforms into feline shape, following his wife into the shadows. 

Let the kings and queens of the neighboring courts eye him with mistrust and call him soft-hearted. He is not the only king to break with tradition so, or to desire such. But here and now, let him be merciful. The time for being harsh is later. There is always time for harsh lessons.


End file.
